From PreEarth To Present Day
by lady-warrioress
Summary: An accident transports Dinobot, Cheetor, and Yume to the present day. Too bad they weren't the ONLY ones who got sent there.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: because the sequel is taking me so long to do I decided to do another short spinoff story that takes place between BodyGuard and the sequel. I hope this will tide you over until I get it finished. The only characters I own in this are the humans. **

**CHAPTER 1**

"So how does that thing even work?" Yume lifted her head and looked over at Cheetor. He was sitting on a rock close to the fallen log she was sitting on, looking at her curiously. "How does _what _work?" she asked.

He lifted a finger and pointed at something in her hands. 'That," he answered. "How does that work?"

Yume looked at her hands. She was holding onto the Cube. The Cube was what had brought her to this time a few months back. Sending her there had used up all of its power and only recently did it get fully charged. Though Yume could go home whenever she wanted she had chosen not to do so. The power was currently off. She currently had it in her possession to keep anyone from using it foolishly. She didn't want any of her new friends to wind up in her time by mistake. "I don't know," she replied. "You will have to ask Rhinox. He's the one who studied it. I only stumbled upon it by accident."

Cheetor got up and walked over her. He took the cube out of her hands and looked at it closely. "It doesn't really look like much," he told her, holding it up to his face. "It's hard to believe _this_ was the reason you ended up here."

"Give that back," Yume said, reaching up to try to take that out of his hands. "That's not a toy."

He put a hand on her forehead and held her back. "Chill out," he said looking down at her. "I'll be careful."

"But I don't want you to accidently turn it on," she told him getting off the log and reaching for it. He held it out of reach. "Please!"

"Oh all right," he conceded, handing the cube over. "Really, Yume, I don't see why you had to get so upset. I know how to be careful."

"I know," she said, putting the cube into her backpack. "I was only being cautious."

"More like paranoid." he said.

She blushed, knowing he was right. "I was wasn't I?"

He grinned. "Maybe a little."

Just then a figure stepped around the trunk of a tree growing near the spot where the two stood. The two turned their heads and stared into two red optics narrowed in annoyance. "Have you two finished your childish antics yet?" the other transformer demanded in a raspy voice. "Because if you are I think it is about time we continued our mission."

The youths sighed. "We'll be right there, Dinobot," Cheetor said. He looked at Yume. "Let's go."

She nodded and put her backpack back on. "Yeah before he gets angry and yells at us."

"I would have a reason to be angry," Dinobot informed her, his red optics boring into her soft gray ones. "We did not come here to sit around talking like old fembots. We have a mission and we cannot complete it if we sit around and do nothing."

"I don't see why we had to bring Yume with us anyway," Cheetor retorted. "You as well as Optimus knows that she's a human and could get hurt. What if we run into Preds?"

On any other day Yume would have felt offended at that statement but she couldn't because she knew he was right. Why had Optimus insisted they take her along? The place they were going to wasn't exactly human friendly and Cheetor was right. What would they do if they did run into Predacons?

"I do not know," Dinobot replied, turning to go. "I did not agree with the descition either but he insisted and so she had to come. As for Predacons... We have not run into any so far, so maybe we will not have to worry about them."

Cheetor wasn't about to let that statement satisfy him. "Couldn't you have persuaded him to change his mind?" he pressed. "I mean Optimus always puts the life of organics first almost as much as Tigatron. Why did he insist we take her with us?"

"I do not know," Dinobot snapped, looking over his shoulder and glaring at the younger bot. "Why did you not ask him yourself?"

"Because I didn't know until after the fact," he shot back.

"Enough," Yume cut them off. She didn't like it when her two best friends got into arguments which they did pretty often. Ever since she decided to stay Dinobot and Cheetor had not gotten along very well anymore. The human girl was awre that she liked him but didn't see why he had to act so nasty to the former Predacon. Dinobot cared about her but not in the way Cheetor did."Just forget it. I know neither of you think this is a good idea and I agree with you but there's nothing we can do about it now so let's just get this over with so we can get out of here." she looked up at the sky. "It's already getting dark." she shivered, looking around herself at the long shadows being cast over a large rock formation ahead of them. "This place gives me the creeps."

But it wasn't just the shadows that were making her feel uneasy. The last time she'd been in this part of the forest floating monsters had kidnapped her and tried to send her back to her time against her will. Much as she had wanted to go home back then, she didn't want to be forced to do it. It was her choice. Not theirs. They had no right to try and change it. _I just hope those monsters found some other place to hang out. _ She did not relish another encounter.

The three reached the place a short time later."Wow," Cheetor breathed, staring up at the building. "Ultra gear. I've never seen anything like _this_ before..." he looked at Dinobot. "Can we go in?"

"That is why we are here," Dinobot replied, looking annoyed. "Optimus wanted us to look at the inside. Last time I was here I was too busy to get a good look."

Cheetor was silent. He knew that the last time Dinobot had been there was when Yume had accidently been sucked into the building by the aliens. The former Predacon wound up having to fight Megatron and saving the girl when part of the roof caved in on her. Once everyone was back at the base and safe Dinobot had told Optimus that Yume could read some of the writing on the door and could probably find the entrance again. _So that's why Optimus said she had to come. _He turned to ask Yume about it but saw she was already running her hand across the markings on the wall. She seemed to be in deep concentration. "Can you read them?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head. "The last time I was here I was only able to make out one word," she explained. "and that was only because it was different than the other symbols." she ran her hand over the wall again. "I just have to find that symbol again." she put her index finger in her mouth and nibbled on her nail, thoughtfully. "It should be just about... here!" she pointed at a symbol that looked out of place, dead center in the door.

Cheetor looked at the symbol. "What does it mean?" he asked.

"Power," Dinobot said before the girl could reply. When the younger transformer turned around he said."I know that because Yume told me the last time we were here."

"Is that what opens it?"

"I think so." Yume reached out and touched the symbol gently with her finger tip. Suddenly the door flew open and she had to step back to avoid being sucked into the chamber.

"Awesome!" Cheetor exclaimed, staring into the dark chamber.

"Do not just stand there," Dinobot said, putting a hand on his shouler and giving him a shove. "Move. We do not have time to stand here staring."

"Don't push me," Cheetor snapped but did get moving.

Dinobot was the last one to enter the room. He set a large stone in front of the door to make sure it wouldn't close then followed the other two inside. As the darkness swallowed him up a shadow darkened the open doorway.

* * *

"What is this place?" Cheetor asked, staring in awe at the interior of the strange stone structure. "and who built it?"

"Demons," Yume replied. The girl knew nothing about the Vok or the fact that they were aliens. To her they looked like demons from Hell.

The younger transformer stared at her. "Demons?" he had never heard of such things.

"She means the aliens," Dinobot spoke up before Yume was forced to explain to the younger transformer about fallen angels. 'The ones who built that flying island Tigatron spoke about and the standing stones we saw the day we arrived."

Understanding dawned on the young Maximal. He nodded. "Oh."

"Yeah," Yume replied, a little preoccupied. She was remembering the day it had happened. "They had some kind of strange chamber further down this passage," she explained, pointing. "It was lit by some kind of strange light and had weird machinary in it." she was silent for a moment, remembering more. "I think it was a time machine."

Cheetor looked at her with interest. "A time machine? Ultra gear!"

"Is that all you can say," Dinobot asked, grumpily. "I see nothing amusing about it. But maybe Optimus will be interested in that." he looked at Yume. "Show us where it was."

She nodded and headed down the hall. The two transformers followed.

* * *

A few minutes later the three stepped into the room Yume had described. As soon as they stepped inside, the human girl felt a shiver go up her spine. She remembered this room all to well, even though it was dark and she couldn't see much.

"Where's the machine?" Cheetor asked, looking around, squinting in the darkness. "It just looks like a big empty room."

"I don't know," she replied. She scanned the room with her eyes. It did indeed look empty, as of the aliens had taken everything with them when they stopped using the building. But of course half the room was in shadows so she couldn't be sure."It should be in the far back. They were all floating around it." She stepped away from the two transformers, reaching into her backpack. She pulled something out and flipped a switch. A beam of light cut across the room.

"What's that?" Cheetor asked, looking down at her hand. She seemed to be holding some kind of tube.

"It's a flashlight," she replied, moving the beam around. "I'd think a high advanced alien machine such as yourself would know that already."

"Well," he blushed. "I never really studied up on humans."

"It's okay." she took another step forward and lifted the light. The beam came to rest on a huge piece of machinery resting against the back wall. Her eyes widened with recognition. "That's it!"

Dinobot studied the machine. It looked similar to Cybertronian technology but different. 'This looks almost exactly like the machinery that we found in that tower on the flying island."

Yume looked back at him, curiously. "Flying island?"

"It is not important right now," Dinobot told her, walking passed her. He rested his hand on the machine, getting in the way of her flashlight beam and casting a shadow on the device. "Cheetor can tell you when we get back." he ran his hand over the machine. "First we must run a scan over this and see what makes it work. Then I think Rhinox might want us to bring back a piece so he can study it better."

"I'm afraid you're not going to be taking that anywhere, no."

Yume jumped then looked over her shoulder. By then Dinobot and Cheetor already had and had pulled out their weapons. She saw why. Megatron stood in the doorway, aiming his t-rex head at them and grinning that obnoxious grin of his. She felt a wave of fear wash over her. She was hoping to not see him again anytime soon because all he seemed to want to do was kill her, though she had no idea why.

"Megatron," Dinobot hissed.

"What is he doing here?" Yume asked, staring. "and how did he know what we were doing?"

"It was simple, my dear," Megatron said, turning his attention on the girl. '" picked up your energy signatures and decided to follow you." he noticed the machine. "and it seems that my impulse was a good idea, yes."

"Forget about it. Megajerk," Cheeetor cut him off. "You're not getting this machine. Not while we're standing here!"

The Predacon didn't look the least bit threatened as both Maximals brandished their weapons and stood in his way. "I was hoping this would be easy," he said, frowning. "I was hoping to avoid a confrontation for the human girl's sake."

"Why should you care about her?" Cheetor demanded.

Megatron shrugged. "I don't but I thought you'd be worried that a fight would get her hurt." he raised his arm. "I guess it can't be helped." and he fired.

The shot passed between the Maximals and hit Yume in the chest before she could get out of the way. The energy threw her back off her feet and into the wall. She hit the machine and went down, feeling as if her chest was on fire. The backpack and flashlight fell out of her hands, the former falling open and spilling.

"Yume!" Cheetor exclaimed, looking at her fallen body. He turned back to Megatron. "You'll pay for that! She doesn't even have a weapon! Why did you shoot her?"

"I can't help that she was in the way."

Cheetor raised his gun and started to squeeze the trigger. "You'll pay for that."

Dinobt put his hand on the younger mech's shoulder. "No," he said when Cheetor looked up at him. 'Take care of the girl. Make sure she is all right. I will take care of Megatron."

The Maximal almost argued with him but thought better of it. He nodded. "All right." and rushed over to where the girl had fallen. Dinobot faced Megatron. "You will regret doing that," he told him.

Megatron just grinned. "Bring it on, traitor."

"Are you all right?" Cheetor asked, kneeling down beside Yume and helping her sit up.

"I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her chest where she'd been hit. "I just feel like my chest was hit with a wrecking ball." she looked around and saw her flashlight on the floor a short distance away. She leaned over and grabbed it then grabbed her pack and stuffed what little had fallen out of it back inside.

"Megatron is going to pay for shooting you," Cheetor promised, helping her collect the items. "I hope Dinobot kicks his butt!"

"Dinobot." the girl looked up. He was standing in front of them shooting his eye lasers at the purple Predacon. _I hope he'll be okay. _Her hand absently went into her backpack.

Suddenly her eyes went wide. "Oh no!"

"What?" Cheetor asked.

She stuffed her head inside the pack. "It's gone!"

"What?"

She looked up at him. "The cube. I think I dropped it!"

Cheetort's optics bugged out. "This is bad..." he looked around for the cube. "There it is!"

Yume turned her head. It was right near Dinobot's feet. "How'd it get over_ there_?" she reached out ot grab it.

"Don't!" Cheetor exclaimed, grabbing her arm and pulling it back. "You might get hit. " she pulled her hand back, realizing he was right. "But maybe you should help Dinobot," she said. "I'm fine really."

"Well," he said uncertainly.

But before he could make up his mind an accurate shot from Megatron's T-Rex head hit Dinobot in the chest. He roared in pain and fell backward. He landed in front of the others, his foot accidently kicking the cube. It scittered halfway across the room then lit up when it came to a stop.

Megatron did not notice the glowing cube on the floor as he stepped toward the Maximals and their human companion. "Looks like I win this round, yes," he said, aiming the head at the trio. "Now all I have to do is get rid of the three of you and I'll have that alien technology all to myself."

"You won't get away with this," Cheetor exclaimed, glaring at the huge purple Predacon.

"And what are _you_ going to do about it?"

He raised his gun. "This!" but before he could shoot Yume exclaimed. "Look!" and pointed at something on the floor.

All three transformers looked down at the floor. The cube was still lying on the floor where it had fallen but now it was glowing. As they watched the cube glowed brighter and brighter, lighting up their faces in a purple hue. "What is this?" Megatron asked, stepping back.

Yume started to answer but just as she opened her mouth the cube flashed a bright light and she was blinded.

* * *

Sometime later she became aware of the sound of birds singing. The human girl let out a moan and opened her eyes, only to be nearly blinded by sunlight shining through almost bear trees. She closed her eyes again and covered them with her arm... and only then realized she was not inside a dark building. She gasped and sat up right, instantly noticing the piles of leaves surrounding her body. Through the trees she could make out what looked like a swing set and a pair of monkey bars. Everything clicked and she knew exactly where she was.

_I'm home... _for a moment she let that thought sink in. Her feelings a mixture between happiness and a rising panic. _I'm __**home**__? _Her eyes grew wide in horror. _Oh no! _She climbed out of the leaves, her heart pounding. She stared at the pile of leaves she'd been lying in then plunged herself into them, groping around. _I knew it. I knew this would happen! I never should have brought it with me! Now I'm back home but I'll never get a chance to say how much I cared about-_

Suddenly the leaves started moving. She gasped and stepped back as two figures rose out of the pile of leaves, like two Halloween goblins. "What was that?" a voice she recognized instantly asked. The leaves fell away as the voices owner moved his head back and forth. "and where in the Pit are we?"

"Dinobot?!" Yume gasped, surprised and relieved to see him.

He looked over at her. "What are you staring at?" he demanded.

She raised a finger. "But how.. how did you two-"

"Whoa!" Cheetor exclaimed, climbing out of the leafy mess and dashing past her until he reached the end of the trees. He looked around himself, taking in the skyscrapers in the distance "Incredible! I can't believe what I'm seeing! This place is almost as big as Iacon!"

"Iacon? But we're-" Dinobot stopped and looked down at Yume. "You would not happen to know where we are would you not?"

She nodded. "Yes," she replied, looking a bit nervous. "Welcome to the outskirts of New York City."

"New York City?!" Cheetor exclaimed, looking back at her. He suddenly didn't look so excited, he looked horrified. "but how... how did we even get here?"

"The cube," Yume replied simply.

He stared at her. 'The cube?"

She turned from him and knelt down to search through the leaves for the item. "The cube is what brought me to your time all those months ago and you know it was at full power." she found the cube buried under the leaves and picked it up. "When Dinobot and Megatron got into that fight one of them must have activated it by accident and sent us to my time." she looked around. "But it was spring when I found it, now it looks like late October. I guess some time did go by in my future after all."

"We cannot stay here," Dinobot said, looking at the cube. "We must return to our own time."

"But how?" she asked, showing the cube to him. "It used up it's power and, if it still works, it will be just like before. It will take awhile for it to recharge again."

"So that means we are stuck here?" he asked, not liking that possibility.

She nodded. "It would seem so." she put the cube in her backpack. "Until then it looks like you'll just have to get used to it for a few days."

The raptor glared at her. It was clear that he didn't _want_ to get used to it. He opened his mouth to tell her so. Suddenly they all heard a chirping sound.

"What is that?" Cheetor asked, looking around himself.

Yume looked at her backpack where the sound was coming from. "Ah," she said, reaching inside the pocket and pulling out something. "It's just my cellphone."

"Your _cell_phone?"

"Yeah,." she nodded. "It hasn't worked since I ended up in your time." she flipped it open and pressed the talk button. "Hello?" she listened for a moment then said. "Yeah I'm okay. I just got back. I don't know how long I'll be staying. No, you don't have to worry. I'm okay. I'll see you later. Bye." when she hung up she noticed Dinobot giving her a look. "What?"

"You do not know how long you will be staying in your _own_ time?" he asked.

She met his eyes and held them. "What is it to you?" she asked. "My parents don't notice when I'm not there anyway, unless they can't get a baby sitter." a cold wind blew up and she shivered. "and speaking of home I think we should head there before the kids come home from school and see you." the three blond bully girls came to mind. The ones that were the reason she had wound up in prehistoric earth in the first place. She did not want to find out what they would do if they saw the Maximals. "I don't want anybody seeing you and I need to get a jacket anyway."

"We could go into beast mode," Cheetor suggested.

She shook her head. 'That would only make things worse."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure anybody would stay calm if they saw a cheetah and a raptor walking down the street," she explained. "It's best if you stay in robot mode and just pretend to be teenagers in costumes."

"Oh," he said. "I forgot."

"Okay then," she said, shoving the cube into her pack and heading out of the trees. "School will be out in ten minutes." she met their optics. "My house is only a few blocks from here. We should get there before anyone sees you. Let's go."

The two Maximals followed her out of the clump of trees and down the street. Cheetor looked over his shoulder when he heard the school bell ring. He saw a group of teenagers come out of the high school. Dinobot noticed and commented. "You will run into something walking like that." With that warning he looked forward again, deciding to find out more about the teenagers later.

* * *

A short time later the three reached a quiet neighborhood with houses built so close together there was barely enough room for garages to separate them. Cheetor saw two boys playing with a ball in a yard but when they spotted Yume and her two robot partners they stopped and stared. One pointed and said. "Hey! Those guys look like the characters from that one Japanese cartoon!"

"Awesome!" the other kid exclaimed. "I wonder where they got the costumes?"

Cheetor looked away from the kids. "This isn't a costume," he grumbled, folding his arms. "Don't humans know anything? It's almost as if they haven't seen a Cybertronian before."

"I believe it is best if they think that," Yume told him. "Imagine what they would do if they knew you were a real robot. They wouldn't leave you alone." when he looked back at them she said. "Let's just get to my house. We can talk more there.There's something important I just figured out and I don't want to discuss it out in the open."

* * *

As it turned out the only person who was home was Maggie the baby-sitter and Yume's little brother. The other girl didn't even look up when Yume and the two Maximals stepped into the front hall then headed up the stairs. The girl led them into her not too cluttered room and turned to them once they were both inside. "Okay," she said. "Let's get down to business."

Dinobot leaned against her bookshelf with his arms folded. Yume noticed his helmet's horns barely grazed the ceiling. Cheetor went into beast mode and hopped onto her bed, lying down and looking at her through slitted green eyes. "Well we know that the cube was what sent you to our time then it sent us here and we have to use it to go back," he said, staing the obvious.

"But the power is at zero right now," she added, beginning to pace.

"Maybe we could use some kind of power source to recharge it?" Cheetor suggested.

"Negative," Dinobot informed him. "If that was able to be done it would have worked when Rhinox had tried it."

"Dinobot's right," Yume agreed. 'That means we have to find another way but we have another problem."

"Yeah and what is that?"

"Well," she pulled out the chair at her homework desk and sat down. "as you know we were there when the cube activated and sent us here but you're forgetting something, something I realized earlier."

"What?"

"The one other person that was in the room with us," she said. A strange tone crept into her voice, making her words less casual. Dinobot knew right away what was troubling her and wondered why it hadn't come to mind soon. It was so obvious. If they had wound up here so had-

"Megatron," he growled. "If we got sent here then he did probably did as well."

"What?!" Cheetor fell off the bed. "Are you saying that grape faced egomaniac might be here too?"

Yume nodded. "Which means that not only do we have to wait for the cube to reach full power to send us back to your time but," she stood up again and turned to her window. "We also have to find Megatron before he causes some kind of trouble." her worried gaze rested on the view of the city. "and in a city as big as New York this could take awhile."

* * *

Back at the park where Yume and the two Maximals had wound up a bunch of little kids from the elementary school ran across the well cared for grass toward the large sandbox. But they never got there. Halfway across the grounds the sandbox suddenly seemed to come to life. The children watched in awe and horror as the sand rose out of the box, higher and higher until something under it exploded, sending sand in all directions with a loud unearthly roar.

Megatron, his optics just clearing from the grit, glared around himself and settled his piecing gaze on the children, standing open mouthed before him. "What are you staring at?" he demanded.

The children gave no answer. When he put his hands on the wooden edges of the box and growled at them they all turned and fled, screaming. Megatron watched them run without reaction then looked around himself, taking in the city. _Where in the Matrix am I? _

_A/N_

_Just another short story. I was wondering to myself what would happen if Yume did go home but wound up taking some transformers with her. I can't really explain why I have Cheetor there instead of somebody else, since I'm not too fond of Cheetor anyway, except that I uncoinsiously made him have a crush on the girl and is overprotective of her as well as jealous that she seems to care more for Dinobot than him. _


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Dinobot wanted to go out right away and search for Megatron but Yume convinced him to wait. "It wouldn't be a good idea to go out now," she told him, blocking the doorway. "What if somebody sees you? Wait until it's dark. We can go out then. Then, if somebody sees you, you can pretend to be on your way to a Halloween party."

Dinobot didn't know what she was talking about but he saw the wisdom in what she was saying and agreed to wait. He stepped away from the door and leaned against her bookshelf, folding his arms. "Fine."

Cheetor meanwhile had discovered what the TV remote was used for and had turned on Yumes small portable TV set that was perched at the end of her dresser. He was currently in beast mode, laying comfortably on her bed and staring in fascination as an anime robot transformed from a police car to a giant white and blue robot. "Ultra gear!" he exclaimed.

"He acts as if he's never seen a transformer before," Dinobot muttered, shaking his head.

Yume smiled and grabbed some clothes then ducked into the bathroom connected to her bedroom. When Dinobot heard the sound of running water he turned his attention away from the closed door and focused it on the window. All he could see from it was the inside of the house next door so he turned his gaze away and looked over at her book shelf, which stood against the wall that her door was built into, which he was currently leaning against.

A lot of the books were mangas about giant robots called Gundams but some of the books were more serious reading without fancy art or pictures. He saw a few classics and also a few books about UFOs and ghosts. He noticed a book about Shakespearean plays and reached for it. Shakespeare he was familiar with. It was interesting to note that she had a book containing his plays on her shelf. When he took it off the shelf he discovered it was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been read in a long time. _I guess I was wrong after all, _he thought, putting the book back. He didn't really want to read it anyway, not when he had other things to worry about.

"Do you have to watch that?" he demanded of Cheetor whose attention was still glued on the TV screen.

"There's nothing _else_ to do," Cheetor said, not even turning his head to look at his comrade.

"We could be looking for Megatron."

Now Cheetor did look over at the former Predacon. "You know we can't look for him now," he said. "If we did we'd just cause more trouble. "

Dinobot said nothing. He knew he was right. They couldn't do anything until dark but that didn't mean Megatron wouldn't. With Megatron currently in the same time and place as them, just getting back to their normal time wasn't the only problem. _I do not like waiting._

Just then he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall. Instantly he froze, listening. They were coming toward Yume's room. That realization got him moving. He moved away from the book shelf and shoved Cheetor off the bed. "Hey!" he exclaimed, upon hitting the floor. "What did you do that for?"

"Somebody is coming," the raptor answered, looking back at the door. "Do you want them to see us?"

"What's the big deal?" the younger transformer asked.

Before Dinobot could reply the doorknob turned and the door flew open. Standing in the doorway was a woman that looked almost exactly like Yume. For a moment nobody said anything. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Then she started screaming.

Megatron brushed the sand off himself the best he could but some of it was able to seep into his joints, causing him great discomfort. He looked around himself again, taking in the New York skyline. _Where am I and how did I get here?_

It didn't take him long to figure it out. He remembered what had happened in the pyramid in the forest. His encounter with the Maximals and their human pet and then a blinding flash of light that came from a strange object on the floor. _So __**that's**__ it. _he thought, putting his hand to his chin. _I was send here by accident but if I'm here so are the Maximals, yes... and most likely their human friend as well. _

Megatron decided to find out exactly where he was and what time he was in. A minute later the female voice of his computer said. "**Location: Queens. Time: Twenty first century. "**

"So I went forward in time," he looked at the skyline again. This time he noticed that two buildings he'd seen on a holographic image of the New York City skyline were missing. He didn't spend any time wondering what had happened to them though. He turned his attention away from the skyline and walked slowly out of the park and onto the sidewalk.

_I wonder...._

Cheetor changed into robot mode and covered his audio receptors with his hands. "What is that noise?" he shouted so he could be heard over the woman's siren like wail.

When the woman saw what she thought was a cheetah change into another form she started screaming even louder. Yume, who had heard the noise, ran out of the bathroom, wrapped in a large purple towel. "What's going on here?" she asked. That's when she noticed the woman standing in the hall, screaming bloody murder. "Mom!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and pushing her mother out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Mom, calm down."

The other woman broke off her screaming suddenly and looked at her dsughter, her face full of horror. "What were those _things_?" she demanded.

"They are just friends," Yume said, holding onto her towel to make sure it didn't fall down.

"What are they doing in your _bedroom_?" she demanded. She gave gave her daughter a suspicious look. "Yume, are you?"

"No!" the girl exclaimed.

"Then _what _are they doing in there?"

"They came over for a visit," she replied.

"Are they the ones you've been spending all these months with?" her mother wanted to know. "I know you go off like this without telling us. What have you been up to?"

"Nothing," Yume exclaimed, horrified that her mother would think such things. "I just got back today. You don't have to worry about them. They won't be here for very long. They're only staying here until they find a friend of theirs."

The girl's mother gave her a long hard look. Yume couldn't blame her mother for acting so suspicious, especially since the girl had been missing for such a long time and suddenly popped up months later. "Just keep them away from your brother," she told her. "I don't trust them."

"They won't hurt my brother," the girl said. "Well at least the yellow one won't..." she saw the look on her mother's face and said quickly. "I'll make sure they stay away from him."

Her mother looked satisfied with that and turned away but not before saying. "I suggest you put something on. I don't want people hearing that my daughter doesn't know how to be modest."

Yume had forgotten she was only in a towel. Her mother's comment made her realize that and she let out a squeak and ducked back into her room. Cheetor and Dinobot stared at her, as if waiting for her to tell that what was going on. "Uh..." she said then ducked quickly into the bathroom and put some clothes on. When she stepped out again she was in a pair of blue jeans and a fluffy purple sweater. "Sorry about that," she said.

"Who was that?" Cheetor asked.

"My mom," the girl explained.

"What's a mom?"

"It's not important," she said, shaking her head. The last thing she wanted to do was explain what parents were for and what they did to have children. She did not want to traumatize him because she doubted robots had children the same way. By the look on Dinobot's face she got the feeling he might already know. "What is important is that you don't go near her. She doesn't like you guys."

"Why not?" Cheetor wanted to know.

"She doesn't trust you," she explained. "Don't ask me why because I don't know. All I do know is that you two would be wise to avoid her. "

Dinobot nodded. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet up with the girl's other again anyway.

"Well at least now I know where you got your scream from," Cheetor commented.

The girl made a face. 'Thanks a _lot_," she retorted.

His face turned red. "S-sorry" he said, quickly. "No offense intended."

"Forget it," she said, waving it off. "It's not important..."

Dinobot folded his arms. "Why did you not warn us about your mother?" he asked her. "It would have been a good idea to let us know that your parents were here."

"I forgot," she said to him. "and my mother usually isn't home at this time because she works two jobs."

"Why does your mother work two jobs?"

"Because my father is a lazy bum and doesn't do anything but go out at night and get drunk with her hard earned money," she replied, her voice sounding angry and hurt at the same time.

"Oh," the Maximal said, his expression changing. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said shaking her head. "Just forget about it." she looked out her bedroom window and noticed it was starting to get dark. "How about we head out and look for Megatron in a few minutes?"

Dinobot liked that idea. "That would be acceptable," he agreed, nodding.

"Just let me get something to eat," she said, ducking out of the room again. "Be back in a few. Don't go anywhere until I get back." and the door closed behind her.

Megatron noticed that he was drawing a lot of stares from people on the streets. Some guy in a car stared at him so long he smashed into a mailbox. The Predacon didn't care if people saw him. Let them. Let them stare and tremble at the very sight of him. _That's right, pathetic humans, _he thought. _Get out of my way or be destroyed, yess-_

Something hit him in the head, knocking forward a few steps off balance. Growling, he lifted his head and saw a soccer ball on the ground rolling away from him down the street. He glared at it then demanded angrily. "Who threw that!?"

"Sorry about that!" a voice called behind him.

He turned around and saw a group of kids in an abandoned parking lot, staring at him. "Cool!" one kid exclaimed, pointing. "He looks like one of those robots from that TV show."

"He does!" another kid gasped.

"That's awesome!"

The next minute Megatron was surrounded by staring children. He glared down at them, wanting them all just to get away from him. "Are you a real robot?" one of the children asked.

"What kind of question is that?" he demanded, annoyed. He wanted them all to just go away.

When one of them reached out to touch him he shoved the kid back. "Don't touch me!" he growled.

"Look! His right arm has a dinosaur head!" another kid exclaimed, grasping the limb.

"Gah! let go of me, you disgusting primate!" he growled, yanking his arm away from the kid.

"Look his weapon thing looks like a tail!" yet another kid yelled, grabbing his other arm. "He's like one of those Dino Knights!"

"Let go of me!" he shouted, wrenching his limbs free from the grabbing hands of the children as they tried to grab other parts of his body. "Go find somebody else to bother! I don't have time for this!"

But the kids were either too enthralled with him to listen or they were just plain stupid. They flanked him on all sides, blocking anyway of escape. At such close range he could not fire at them without damaging himself and, with them grabbing at his weapons, he couldn't do anything to distract them.

Finally one kid decided he wanted to use the Predacon for a jungle gym and jumped up, grabbing him by the neck. more kids got the idea and joined in, climbing all over him, though he tried to keep them away. "Oh no," he groaned before being buried under the bodies of a dozen children.

Yume poked her head into the kitchen. She was being very careful because she did not want to run into her mother or Maggie. Maggie would ask questions and her mother, who wasn't happy with her at the moment, might say something she didn't want to hear. Fortunately the kitchen was deserted. Sighing with relief the girl stepped into the room and opened the fridge. She smiled when she saw the contents. Somebody had gone shopping.

_Lucky! _she thought, reaching in an extracting packages of ham, cheese, and bread. She set the food on the counter and began making herself a sandwich. She was just placing a slice of cheese on the slice of ham when Maggie stepped into the room.

"Hi, Yume," the other girl said, making her way to the fridge.

"Hi."

The other girl took a bottle of water out of the fridge and closed the door. "When did you get back?" she asked, opening the bottle.

"Um... two hours ago," Yume replied, going back to her task.

"And you brought some guys home with you."

Yume almost dropped the bread. She looked up, startled. "Who told you that?"

"Your mother," Maggie replied. "She said found two men in your room."

"They're not _men_," Yume said.

"Oh?" the other girl cocked her head. "Then _what are_ they? Women?"

"They're robots."

The other girl stared at her, not sure she heard her right. "Robots?"

"Yeah, you know, like on that one anime," the girl said. "They can turn into things and stuff."

'They're Japanese?"

Yume had to giggle at that. "No. More like Cybertronian."

"What is Cybertronian?"

The girl finished making her sandwich and put the stuff back in the fridge before saying. "They're from another planet. It's called Cybertron. The whole plant is made up of robots."

"Huh," Maggie said. "Well that's interesting but I find it a little hard to believe."

"Why?"

"Simple, why would God create a planet full of robots?"

Yume fought the urge to roll her eyes. She'd forgot that Maggie was Catholic. "I don't know," she said, kicking the door shut with her foot. "But I don't think He made them."

"Then _who_ did?"

"Other people," the girl said. "and these robots are religious too. They got a sort of Heaven and Hell as well and a god named Primus."

"Primus?"

"Yeah. I don't know much about Primus besides him being some kind of deity that fought with another god named Unicron. You'd have to ask them about it."

Maggie shook her head. 'This is too weird," she commented. "Religious robots? Forget I even said anything."

"Okay," the girl said, shrugging.

"Can I see them?"

Yume almost dropped her sandwich. "What?"

"Can I see them?" Maggie repeated herself. When she saw the look on the other girl's face she said. "Come on, Yume. Don't keep them to yourself. Even if you don't show them to me now I'll see them eventually."

Yume was about to say that she probably wouldn't by changed her mind. She didn't know how long Dinobot and Cheetor and their enemy would be there. It all depended on how long it took for the cube to recharge. Finally she sighed, if she didn't show them to Maggie now the girl would bother her until she did. "All right," she said, picking up her sandwich. "Come with me. They're upstairs in my room."

Cheetor was getting restless waiting for the girl to return and decided to take a look around her house until she got back. Dinobot tried to keep him from doing so but he ignored the other transformers warning and stepped into the hall. When the door closed behind him he turned and headed down the hall. He hadn't gone more than a few steps when a figure stepped out of another room. He stopped and stared at it.

It was a human. This one was much smaller than Yume and had short black hair and large brown eyes. It noticed him right away and looked up, smiling. "Bot!" he exclaimed, pointing a chubby finger at him. "Bwu bot!"

"Hello there, little fella," Cheetor said, looking down at it. "What's your name?"

The little human put a finger in his mouth but didn't reply.

_He must be shy, _Cheetor thought. He knelt down so he was at eye level with the human. "It's okay," he said reassuringly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Bot," the kid said again, smiling. "Mine!" He ran over to the Maximal.

He didn't get far because someone grabbed him from behind and lifted him off the floor. "How did you get out of your crib?" a girl with brown hair back in a ponytail asked, turning the kid around so she could look at him. "You know better than to wander around the house. You could have fallen down the stairs." That's when she noticed the Maximal. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hello!"

"Hello," he said back uncertainly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Maggie," the girl said.

"Maggie?"

"She's the family baby-sitter," Yume said, coming up behind her.

"Oh," he said. "Hi."

"Hi," Maggie said back then she looked at Yume. "He's cute but I thought you said there were two of them."

Before Yume could reply Dinobot came out of the bedroom. "Cheetor, I told you to-" and that's when he noticed Yume, Maggie, and the little boy. "Who are they?"

"Oh," Yume said, turning to the others. "This is Maggie and the little boy is my baby brother Tai."

"Hello," Maggie said, waving a Dinobot.

He frowned at her but didn't say anything to her. To Yume he said. "If you are finished with whatever you are doing I think we should be going now."

"Going where?" Maggie asked curiously.

"We're looking for someone," the other girl replied.

"Who?"

The girl shrugged. "A friend."

"Oh," the girl said, shifting Tai's weight to her other arm. "Well maybe I can help you look for him."

"There is no way you could help us look for this person," Dinobot told her. "You do not even know what he looks like or where to look."

Maggie made a face. "Well if he came from the same place as you I know he's a robot and that he will stand out wherever he goes in the city because robots walking around is not the norm, even in New York."

Cheetor laughed. "She got you there, Dinobot," he commented.

The other transformer frowned at him. "I see no humor in this."

"Okay," Yume cut in before the two started arguing. "Let's just get going. Your friend could be anywhere by now."

"You're right," Cheetor agreed, catching on. "Let's get out of here."

"I want to come too," Maggie said. "I can put Tai to bed and-"

"No," Dinobot cut her off. "Forget it. You are not coming with us. The last thing we need is to watch over another human."

The other girl glared at him. "I beg your pardon," she shot back. "I don't need you _watching over_ me. I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"So you say."

Yume glared at him. "Let her come," she said.

"Why?"

"Because she knows the city better than I do," she replied. "She could show you places I couldn't." she folded her arms and stared at him. "Come on."

He stared back at her, not about to lose this match of wills. For some reason he almost always lost this match with her, this time was no exception. After a few minutes he gave in. "Fine."

Megatron was finally able to escape from the group of children that had used him as a jungle gymn. To get rid of them he'd shot off his gun, but because a kid was sitting on his arm the blast blew up a car. When that happened the kids stared at him in horror then screamed and ran away when they saw the look on his face. "Primus!" he exclaimed, getting up. "Human children are more deadly than the smelting pit." He got up, and looked around himself, noticing the sun had gone down and it was getting dark. "Now what in the world was I doing?"

"Okay, lets starting looking for your friend in the last place you remember seeing him," Maggie said, once the four were outside.

By then it had grown dark and the neighbors had gone inside.

Dinobot looked down the street. He saw large pumpkin things in the yards of most houses. He had no idea what they were for but he wasn't going to ask.

"Hello?" Maggie said when nobody gave her that information.

"Uh... the last place we saw him was in the park by the school," Yume said.

"Oh," the older girl said, nodding. "I know that place. Let's head there and take a look around. He might still be there."

The others agreed that was a good idea and headed back the way they had come earlier that day. Dinobot noticed more and more houses with strange lights and creatures outside of them in the yards. _What are these things and why are the humans allowing them to roam around their yard-_

Suddenly a giant spider lowered itself down from the large fence of the house they passed by and got in his face. He reacted instantly by slashing the arachnid with his sword. It shot off sparks and fell to the ground at his feet. The others heard the noise and turned around. Yume saw Dinobot with his sword out, looking down at the spider. "Good going," she said, trying not to burst out laughing. "You successfully killed one of my neighbors Halloween decorations."

"It should not have jumped out at me," he retorted.

"It's supposed to," she told him, walking back to him and pointing toward the house. "It's for Halloween. Just like all the other decorations on this house."

"What's Halloween?" Cheetor wanted to know.

She waved him off. She didn't have time to explain it. "Just forget it for now," she told him. "I'll tell you later."

That seemed to satisfy him and he let it drop for now.

_A/N_

_Ugh this is taking me so long to do. I know one thing, this fic is not going to be very long. I'm going to have to redo some things in this, I just know it. So much for it getting done by Halloween. _


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Maybe we should have brought flashlights," Maggie commented a few minutes later.

She, Yume, and the two Maximals had made it back to the park but found it dark. Not even the lights that usually came on in the park when it got dark were on. They couldn't see anything but shadows.

"I have one," Yume said, reaching into her jacket pocket. She turned it on. A beam of light cut across the park but Maggie didn't feel any better. "If it's this dark here I don't think your friend would have stayed," she told the Maximals.

"More likely he did," Dinobot said. "Predacons do not fear the dark."

"Let's look around," Yume said, taking another flashlight out of her jacket pocket and handing it to Maggie. "We'll split up in groups of two."

"I'll go with you," Cheetor spoke up instantly.

Yume didn't say anything. She didn't really want to go with him but she didn't know how to tell him that without sounding rude. Luckily Maggie saved her. "I'd rather you go with me," she said, glancing over at Dinobot. "Your friend here makes me nervous."

Cheetor didn't really want to and started to say something. "But-"

Yume looked at him, her expression cutting him off. "Please," she said. "If Dinobot's making her nevous I think it would be best if she went with you."

"But Dinobot makes _you _nervous too," he tried to protest.

"But he's _my_ bodyguard," she reminded him.

"What?" he exclaimed, "Here too?"

"Yes, here too," she said. "As long as we have to worry about a Predacon that's how it is."

Dinobot didn't say anything. He was too busy scanning the area for Megatron's energy signature to pay much attention to their conversation. So far he'd turned up nothing, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. "Arguing will take too long," he finally cut in. "Let us just look around." he put his hand on Yume's shoulder then walked away. She turned around and followed him, leaving Maggie with Cheetor.

"Wow," the other girl said, watching them go. "I never thought I'd see that from her. I wonder if-" she noticed the look on the younger Maximal's face. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He couldn't tell the human how he felt about it. She wouldn't understand. "Let's just look around."

Maggie got the feeling something was going on between the two robots and Yume but she couldn't figure out what it was. _But whatever it is it sure has them all acting funny._

_-------------------_

Megatron was lost. After he'd taken care of his unwanted fans, he'd wandered the streets, trying to get his barings. He had never been to present day earth before so he had no idea where he was going.

_What am I looking for anyway? _he wondered. _Megatron? The Decepticons? _He knew what year he was in and the current time had no Megatron. Just Galvatron. He didn't want to see Galvatron. He didn't even _like_ Galvatron. _But maybe.._

_--------------------_

"He is not here," Dinobot said, after he and Yume had searched the entire left side park.

She had to agree. If Megatron had been there he would have left a long time ago. He was probably wandering around the city, lost and causing trouble. _Perfect. Just perfect. _

"Hey, Yume, what are you doing out so late? I thought you were afraid of the dark."

The voice made the girl jump. She recognized that voice, all too well. She turned around and shone her flashlight in the direction it had come from. Three blond girls walked toward her. The Plastics. Yume immediately got defensive. "I've _never _been afraid of the dark," she retorted.

"_Sure_ you haven't," the lead blond said sarcastically. "Just like you never kissed a girl."

"I told you before, I'm not like that," Yume shot back. "and I don't appreciate you saying such things."

"Why shouldn't I, if they're true?" the girl demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "If they aren't true prove them."  
"Prove them?"

"Yeah," the girl said, pointing to Dinobot. Because the light wasn't on him she could only see his shadow. "Kiss the guy standing behind you. On the lips."

"What?!" Dinobot, who hadn't said anything until then, gasped. They wanted her to _what_?!

"No," Yume shot back, clenching her fists. "I'm not going to kiss somebody I'm not attracted to."

"Then my beliefs are solidly founded," the other girl said, haughtily. "If you can't kiss a guy it's because you-"

"Excuse me, but I can not stand by and let you say things that you know nothing about."

The blond stared up at the tall figure. Dinobot stepped into the beam of Yume's flashlight and glared down at them. "I can assure you that she is anything _but _that."

The girls stared up at Dinobot opened mouthed. They couldn't believe what they were staring at. This thing wasn't even a human. It was a... "What in the world are you?" the girl who was giving Yume trouble asked.

"What does it look like?" Yume asked, feeling a little braver now that Dinobot had said something. "It's a robot."

"Did you _build _that?" one of the blonds behind her asked.

"Of course she did not," Dinobot spoke up, sounding offended. "She does not have the skills."

"I knew it," the third said smugly. "She's not smart enough for that."

He glared at the girls when she spoke. "You must be the three girls that have given her a hard time. Tell me, what has she ever done to you to make you treat her that way."

The one in front replied stammeringly. "S-she is a little lesbo nerd."

"What makes her a lesbian?"

"S-she doesn't like things that girls are into. Like clothes and shows. Instead she is into robots. She isn't girly."

"So just because she is not into "girly" things that automatically makes her a lesbian?"

"Well it's _obvious_s," the one in the back spoke up. She didn't seem to be the least bit freaked out that Yume's companion was a robot.

"I do not think it is." he corrected her. "I for one can assure you that this girl is far from what you claim."

"Oh yeah?" the lead blond asked, regaining her courage. "Prove it."

------------------------------

"Do you have a crush on Yume?" Maggie asked as she and Cheetor searched another area of the park.

He stared at her in shock. "What?" he asked.

"You heard me," Maggie said, looking up at him. "Do you have a crush on Yume?"

He blushed. "I umm... uhh..."

"So you _do_," she said smiling with satisfaction.

He was indignant. "Do _not_!"

"Then _why_ are you blushing?" the girl asked, putting her hands on her hips. "and the bigger question is _how_ are you blushing?"

"I don't know," he said, realizing how weird it looked for a robot to be blushing. "I just am."

She smiled and shook her head. "Forget it," she said. "Just answer my question. Do you like Yume?"

"Yeah," he said, looking away from her.

"Why?"

"Well she's cute and smart and funny," he said.

"Ah," she said, rolling her eyes. "The usual reasons for a guy liking a girl. How cliche. What are you going to say next? She's got a nice personality?"

"Well yeah.. I mean no!"

She saw he was getting flustered and laughed. "Nevermind," she said. "Let's just keep searching."

His face showed relief that she was going to drop the subject. He followed her into the trees. "By the way," she said as an after thought. "I suggest you not bother pursuing it."

"Why?"

"It wouldn't work out between you anyway."

"What?"

-------------------

Dinobot glared down at the three blonds. "I do not have to do anything to prove she is not for you," he informed them. "You have no form of authority over me. I will say that you have no proof to solidify your claim that she is what you believe she is. Just because she likes to draw robots and does not like to do things you termed 'girly" does not make her a lesbian."

"But it's so obvious."

"How?"

"Her closest friend is a girl."

Dinobot stared down at the speaker for a few minutes then burst out laughing.

Yume stared up at him, open mouthed. What was he laughing for? She didn't see what was so amusing about any of this. The blonds didn't either.

"What's so funny?" the leader demanded. "I don't find anything amusing about what I said."

Dinobot gave her a corrective look. "You think she is that way because her closest friend is a girl?" he asked her. "Having a close friend that is the same gender as you does not make you that way. I could say the same for the three of you."

_That _got a reaction from them. "We are not gay!" one of the other girls yelled angrily.

Dinobot smirked, he'd struck a nerve. "I do not know about that. You three seem to be close friends and spend a lot of time together," he said. "If what you said about having a close friend that is the same gender is true, that means you are exactly what you are accusing her to be."

Yume thought about that a moment then started to smile, realizing that what he was saying was true. She giggled.

The blonds glared at her. "What's so funny, lesbo?" the leader demanded.

"He is right," she told them. "For all I know you three could be the exact thing you are accusing _me_ of being."

"We are not!" the leader shot back, offended.

Yume was feeling braver, now that Dinobot had gotten the blonds flustered. "Prove it," she said, folding her arms.

For a moment the three said nothing. Finally they all turned and walked away at a brisk pace. The leader turned around and shouted at her. "This isn't over yet!"

"I'm sure it isn't."

When the girls were gone Yume turned to Dinobot. "Thank you," she said. "You don't know how much I appreciated what."

He just shrugged. "I did not do that for you," he told her. "I did not need to be distracted from our mission and just wanted to get rid of them. They were a waste of time."

"Oh," Yume said, feeling disappointed. "I see."

He put a hand over her shoulder. "We had been keep searching," he told her. "Megatron could be anywhere by now and we do not want too many people seeing him. It would be foolish."

She nodded, knowing he was right. They still had to find Megatron, which meant she didn't have time to be disappointed with Dinobot for the reason why he'd sent the blonds packing. "Yes," she said. "The _last _thing we need right now is Megatron running rampant through the city."

----------------------------

Running rampant wasn't exactly the right term. The Predacon leader was still hopelessly lost and reading the signs didn't help him. The last thing he needed right now was to visit the Empire State building, which he was only a few blocks from. "This is_ not _where I wanted to go!" he yelled, kicking the sign. "Ugh, how can anybody find their way around this city?"

"By using a map," said a voice from behind, startling him.

The Predacon jumped and turned around, aiming his arm cannon at the speaker. "Who said that?" he demanded.

"I did," said the speaker, pushing his arm cannon out of his face. He saw a woman in a business suit standing beside him. "Now get that out of my face before I have you arrested."

He had no idea who this person was. "Who are you?"

"Alisha Patterson," the woman replied, shortly. "And don't you dare call me by my first name."

"Uh... whatever.."

She gave him a once over. He was surprised she wasn't even freaking out at the sight of him, but then those kids hadn't either. "You on your way to a costume party?" she asked rudely.

"What?"

"A costume party," she said as if he was stupid. "Where you dress up like children and do adult stuff." she eyed him. "If you went you'd probably win some kind of prize. That is a very good costume. It looks almost like it's real."

"I beg your pardon," he said, offended. "This is _not _a costume, no. This is what I really look like, yes!"

"Sure," she said, not believing him. She poked his T-rex head. "and _this _really shoots plasma bolts."

"As a matter of fact, it does."

She laughed at such an absurd statement. "Yeah, sure," she scoffed.

"It _does_," he protested, annoyed that she didn't believe him. "I'll_ prove _it."

"Yeah, like how?"

"Like this," he aimed his arm at a parked car and shot it. The car exploded in a mushroom cloud of fire and black smoke. He looked back at her. She was staring wide eyed and open mouthed. "What do you say now, human?"

She looked up at him. "Would you mind doing that to my Exes car?"

-----------------------------

"He's not here," Dinobot said a half hour later. They had finished searching their side of the park and some of the side that Cheetor and Maggie were supposed to search but hadn't gotten that far yet. "He was here but now he is not and he has not been here for hours."

"So what are we going to do now?" Yume asked looking up at him.

"We will have to widen our search," he told her, pointing a finger into the air. He made that snarling noise. "It should not be hard to find him. I know which way he went."

"Okay," she said. "Then you'd better contact the others."

He nodded and put two fingers to the side of his head. "Cheetor, come in," he said.

Cheetor's voice came back instantly. "Cheetor here," he said. "Find anything?"

"Negative," Dinobot told him. "He is not here anymore. We must widen our search."

"By how much?"

"The entire city."

It was obvious that Cheetor hadn't expected that kind of answer. "_What?! _But that could take forever!"

"Not necessarily," Dinobot said correctively. "I know which way he went."

"How do you know that?"

"I have picked up his scent. It should not be hard to find him now."

There was silence on the other end for a moment then Cheetor said, sounding annoyed. "Why didn't you do that in the _first_ place?"

-----------------------------

A few minutes later the group was back together. Dinobot went into beast mode so he could get a better whiff of the scent he'd picked up. Maggie watched his transformation with wide eyes. "Awesome!" she exclaimed. "It's just like those dinosaur robots on that anime."

"Shh!" Yume hissed, putting a finger to her lips. "He needs to concentrate."

"Oh," Maggie said, lowering her voice. 'Sorry."

Dinobot sniffed the air for a few minutes then went back into robot mode. Yume looked at him expectantly. "Anything?" she asked.

He nodded and pointed down the street. "He has gone that way. Further into the city."

"That's just perfect! How are we going to find him now? I mean this city is huge!"

"I guess we'll just have to follow Dinobot's nose. Let's go."

The four ran down the sidewalk, Dinobot going back into beast mode to get a better track of the scent.

-------------------------

The last thing Megatron wanted to do was a favor for a human. "No," he told her. "If you want your exes car to blow up do it yourself."

The woman didn't seemed fazed. She just shrugged. "Whatever," she said. "I wasn't serious anyway." The light turned green and she crossed the street. "By the way. There's a tourist stand two doors down from where you're standing. You can buy a map there."

Megatron watched her go but didn't thank her. When she was out of sight he headed to the stand. An old, bored looking man, was sitting in the window. "Um excuse me," Megatron said, poking his face toward the glass.

The man jumped at the sight of him. "M-May I help you?" he asked, desperately trying to regain his composure.

"Yes," Megatron said. "I need a map." then felt stupid. here he was, the greatest Predacon of all time and he was asking a human for a map. It felt so wrong. He felt as if a part of him was dying a slow and painful death. _This is humiliating._

The man in the store fumbled around, looking for a map. "I got o-one r-right here," he said, not looking up.

"Well hurry up," Megatron snapped, folding his arms and leaning against the shop. "I don't have all day, no."

The poor man finally came up with a recent map of the city and handed it to him. "N-no charge," the man said, before Megatron could say anything. "M-Maps are free."

Megatron took the map and stomped away, not even thanking the man. "I wasn't planning on paying for it anyway," he muttered, offended. When he stood under a street light he opened the map and looked at it carefully. It was a birds eye view kind of map with lines for streets and little stars and dots for locations. He stared at it as if it were written in gibberish. "Now where on this thing am I?"

--------------------------

Luckily for the small search party it was dark out, otherwise they would have caused quite a stir with Dinobot running around the city in beast mode. Even though the sight of him did turn a few heads the others following him thought up a good excuse to keep people from panicking. When somebody asked, they said he was on his way to a costume party. Eventually Dinobot went back into robot mode and looked around himself.

"What is it?" Yume asked him.

"He was here," he told her. "Not too long ago." he turned his head and spotted the store that sold maps. Without considering that he might scare the shop owner he walked over to it and poked his head in the window. "Excuse me."

The old man, who was just getting over his fright from before, nearly flew through the roof when he saw the Ex-Predacon. "Holy-!" he exclaimed, putting a hand over his heart. "Not another one!"

Yume, who had followed Dinobot, saw what happened and pushed him out of the way. "You're scaring the poor man." she looked in the window. "Sorry about that," she said. "My boyfriend isn't very subtle."

"_Boyfriend_?!" Dinobot exclaimed, sounding offended."I am not your-"

Yume put up a hand to silence him."Shh!" she hissed. "Do you want him to have a heart attack." He said nothing. "Umm, we were wondering something, sir," she began, looking back in the window..

"W-what?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Dinobot's face.

"We're looking for a friend of ours," she explained, putting up her hand. "He's about this tall and is in a purple Halloween costume. We were wondering if you might have seen him."

The man thought about it then asked. "Did he have a purple face?"

"Yes," she said.

"And does he say 'yess' and 'no' all the time?"

She nodded again. "Yes," she replied. "That's him."

"I saw him," the man said. "He seemed lost. He poked his head in the window asking for a map and nearly took ten years off my life."

"Did you sell him a map?" she asked, curiously.

"Yes," he replied. "But I don't think it did him much good. He wandered off muttering something about scribbles and gibberish."

"Oh.." she said then asked. "Which direction did he go?"

The man pointed. 'That way."

Yume thanked the man and looked at Dinobot and the others who had joined them at the store. "He was here," she confirmed. "He bought a map and wandered off somewhere. He doesn't know where but I think I do."

"You do?" Cheetor asked, surprised.

She stepped away from the window and looked down the street, thinking hard. She lifted her hand and pointed. "He went that way."

_A/N_

_Hehehehe. Poor Megatron. lost and alone in a big city. _


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Searching for Megatron in the city proved to be much harder than searching for him in the park. For one thing the city was much bigger, for another it was crowded. Not only did the crowd hinder their search but it also made it harder to come up with a good excuse for Cheetor and Dinobot looking the way they did. The costume excuse might have diverted a few eyes but others didn't seem to believe them, especially since Dinobot was taller than the average human and his face didn't exactly have the most friendly expression at the moment. He looked utterly disgusted, as if he thought the humans were parasites.

"Just don't say anything," Yume advised him in a whisper.

He followed her advice only because he didn't want to talk to anyone anyway.

"I hope we can get out of this crowd soon," Cheetor whined when somebody brushed against him rudely. "I feel like I'm in the middle of rush hour at Iacon."

"Well this is New York, one of the busiest cities in the world, next to Tokyo," Maggie explained. "Of course there's going to be crowds."

"Can't we get out of it?" he wanted to know, his optics holding a deep pleading.

"When we reach the end of the block we'll cross the street," Yume said, pointing ahead. "Maybe we'll lose most of these people."

"I hope so," Cheetor said when another person brushed against him rudely. "Any more of this and I'll go crazy!"

"You'll just have to get used to it," Maggie said, looking back at him. "Didn't you say this used to happen in a place called Iacon?"

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Iacon's a city on Cybertron. Come to think of it; traffic there is much worse than it is here."

"Then stop complaining," Dinobot growled at him.

"Let's not fight, okay?" Yume said. "We still have to find Megatron."

"I don't think we're going to find him here," Maggie said, scanning the crowd for an out of place figure. "He might have taken the subway."

"What's a subway?" Cheetor asked.

Dinobot glared at him. "It is an underground train," he told him. "We have them on our own planet. Did you not ever ride on one?"

"Yes," Cheetor said offended."I just wasn't familiar with the word."

"I doubt he could have taken one," Yume said, thoughtfully. "I don't think he's small enough to fit. He probably went somewhere else."

"Like where?"

She thought for a moment then admitted. "I don't know but I don't think he took the subway."

By then they'd reached the end of the block. They waited for the light to turn green then crossed the street. Half the crowd went with them.

Once they were back on the sidewalk a man in a dark blue business suit and black trench coat that was left open in front brushed rudely against Dinobot. Though the blow didn't affect him enough to knock him off balance he did not appreciate being brushed against. Before the man could get away the Maximal lifted his hand and shoved the man roughly forward. The man pitched forward, off balance. He took about five steps before righting himself once more. He turned around to swear at the person who was rude enough to shove him but when he saw Dinobot and the look he was giving him he thought better of it and turned away, saying nothing.

Yume, who'd been watching the whole thing, saw the satisfied look on the raptor's face and put a hand over her mouth so he couldn't hear her giggling.

* * *

As it turned out Megatron did go into the subway, but not by choice. While he was walking around aimlessly, trying to read the map the old man had given him, a strong gust of wind blew up and yanked the map out of his hands. He gave chase, following the map down the sidewalk and down the stairs into the subway station.

He was so intent on getting his map he didn't pay attention where he was going and ran right through the turn style. The turn style was sent flying through the air and people ran screaming to avoid being hit by it. It crashed to the floor, right where a group of people had been standing only seconds before. If it had been anyone else the security guard would have said something but he took one look at the cause and said nothing, not wanting to confront that huge _thing_ in black and purple with the mean looking gun on his arm. Instead he quietly called for backup.

Megatron didn't noticed, he was too busy chasing after his map. He reached out his hand, the one with the T-Rex head, and caught it in his teeth. Too bad the teeth bit down and ripped the map into shreds.

He stood there, staring at the pieces in horror. "Slag!" he growled then noticed the people staring with their mouths gaping open. "What are _you_ staring at?" he demanded.

The people turned away, pretending they hadn't been gaping at the huge robot chasing after a piece of paper.

* * *

"Wow!" Cheetor exclaimed, craning his head back so he could see all the way up. "That building is huge!"

The two Maximals and the two humans were standing out in front of the Empire State Building. Yume looked at Cheetor and smiled. She had to agree. It _was_ huge. But she'd seen it before on a school field trip and wasn't as impressed by it as he was.

Dinobot wasn't impressed at all. "It is not like you have not seen sky scrapers before," he informed Cheetor.

Yume wondered if Cybertron was full of skyscrapers. _I wonder if I'll ever get to go there? Will he take me someday? _

Fat chance.

"Ah don't be such a kill joy," Maggie told Dinobot, giving him a slight punch on the arm. He moved away from her, not liking the gesture. "From what Yume told me none of you have seen a sky scraper in awhile."

Dinobot looked over at Yume who looked away. _Oops_. "Yume should not be blabbing everything I tell her," he growled.

"I'm sorry," the other girl said. "I didn't think it mattered."

"Well you are wrong!" he snapped.

"Chill out!" Maggie cut in. "It's no big deal."

The raptor grumbled something and looked away.

"They say if you drop a penny from the stop of the building it will kill someone," Yume said after a moment of awkward silence.

Cheetor looked at her with wide eyes. "Really?" he asked, awed.

"I doubt it," Maggie said. "But there's no way to prove it since nobody is allowed to drop things from the top."

Cheetor looked disappointed. He'd wanted to test it out, even if it did get him into trouble.

Dinobot didn't looked very happy at the topic. Yume noticed. "Maybe somebody in there saw him?" Yume suggested, reminding everyone why they were there.

"I don't know," Maggie said, looking doubtful. "They _might_ have." she shrugged. "Well there's only one way to find out." she marched up the stairs and into the building.

A few minutes later she came back out, looking disappointed. "Did anyone see him?" Yume asked.

The other girl shook her head. "Nope," she answered. "The man said he didn't see anyone matching that description."

"So where are we going to look now?" Cheetor asked.

"Central Park?"

"What's that?" the young mecha asked.

"It's the the city park," Yume explained. "and if you want to find a crazy person at night all you have to do is go there."

"Why's that?" he wanted to know.

She didn't reply. It would be best if he found out for himself. She noticed Dinobot giving her a look and got the feeling he already knew. But, like her, he said nothing.

* * *

Megatron wasn't anywhere near Central Park. He had barely gotten out of the subway when another group of people ran into him and he wound up going back inside and getting stuck in a subway door. When this happened a woman in the train screamed and started beating him over the head with her purse.

"Gah!" he yelled, trying to free himself. "Stop hitting me, you annoying flesh creature!"

He forced himself out of the door, falling forward off balance when his frame came out with a loud Pop! He turned to glare at the woman who'd been hitting him but the door had already closed and the train pulled away. "Slag," he cursed, punching the wall.

Once again he noticed the people staring at him but, before he could say anything, they all turned their attention away from him. He glared at them then turned away, grumbling to himself about how he hated humans.

And just then a whole crowd of humans dressed as security guard came storming into the waiting area. When they spotted him him they all stood still for a moment, staring open mouthed that him. He was definitely not what they'd been expecting to find.

He glared at them, debating whether to shoot at them or not. They were blocking his way to the stairs but he wasn't sure if he should kill them or just put the fear of God into them instead.

Finally one of the guards spoke. "I... um... Uh," he stammered. "Would you... umm... mind leaving the premises? You are scaring the people... um.. sir."

Megatron was all too happy to leave. The guards moved aside as he headed for the entrance. Once he was on the stairs and thinking he'd finally had something go his way the guards opened fire.

* * *

Central Park was a dark and dismal place at night as well as creepy. As the group walked through the park Cheetor thought he kept seeing monsters hiding behind the trees. "What's that!?" he exclaimed when he heard a screeching noise.

The others stopped to listen. When they too heard the noise Maggie said calmly. "It's just an owl."

"An owl?" he looked nervous for some reason.

"Yeah."

Dinobot sniffed in annoyance. "You have heard owls before," he said. "I do not see why you are suddenly afraid of them."

"I'm not _afraid_ of them!" the younger bot shot back. "I just wasn't expecting to hear that!"

Dinobot looked away. "You should have."

Cheetor made a face behind his back then looked at the human girls. "I don't think he's here."

"We can't be sure of that yet," Yume told him. "Just keep looking a little longer. We can't afford to let him run around free much longer."

He sighed. "You sounded like Dinobot when you said that," he commented.

She didn't give him a response. She wasn't sure if he was saying that as a compliment or an insult. "I mean it," she told him. "I don't want him causing trouble here. I'm afraid he might do something that will cause some kind of reaction...."

He hadn't thought of that. What if Megatron started messing with the flow of time? When he'd looked at the calender he'd seen that the year wasn't too far from the year where they'd defeated Unicron. In fact... it was only two short years...

Suddenly Dinobot froze. Yume noticed. "What is it?"

"Shh!" he ordered, putting up his hand. "Let me listen."

They all fell silent. Now they all heard it. Its sounded like an all out war going on... somewhere. "I hope that's not gang related," Maggie said, suddenly nervous. New York was full of gangs. What if they'd walked into some kind of confrontation with two of them?

Dinobot put out his arm to keep anyone from moving forward. He was still listening. One of those guns had a familiar sound.. Finally he said. "I do not think it is a gang."

"Then _what_ is it?" Yume questioned.

"I think." Dinobot pulled out his sword. 'That is what we've been looking for."

Then, before the others could comment, he took off running.

"Hey, Dinobot!" Cheetor shouted, taking off after him. "Wait for us!"

* * *

Megatron felt the bullets ping off his frame and turned back to the subway entrance. The security guards stood at the bottom of the stairs firing their guns at him. He put up an arm to block them. Just what he didn't need. More attention. He noticed people standing around, watching. Great. Just great.

Well to the Pit with them. He looked down into the tunnel and raised his arm. "Oh come on! You can do better than that," he taunted. "Here. Let me show you how it's done!"

One of the security guards shouted. "Gun!" seconds before he fired.

* * *

Dinobot and the others found Megatron's location easily thanks to the ruckus he was creating and the fact that more than three dozen people were running screaming from that general direction. They came upon the megalomaniac shooting down into a subway station. "What in the world?" Yume said.

"Megatron!" Dinobot shouted, clenching his teeth together. _I knew it_.

The Predacon looked up upon hearing his name being called. When he saw Dinobot he turned his arm toward him and fired at him.

"Eek!" Yume exclaimed, moving sideways to avoid getting hit. "Dinobot!" she shouted. "Why did you do that!? Are you crazy? There are too many people around here for this!"

"Too late," he said flatly, sounding like he didn't really care. "My only priority is keeping you save. Now, if you don't want to be hit you had better move."

"But-"

"Dinobot's right," Cheetor said, coming out behind them. He raised his gun and started firing at Megatron. "You'd better move before you get hit."

The human girl had enough experience to follow his advice. She quickly moved out of the way. She noticed Maggie standing a few feet behind them, her brown eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. When the girl reached her she said. "You didn't tell me they were enemies!"

"Well," Yume said, poking her index fingers together. "I meant to but it kind of slipped my mind."

"It _slipped_you mind?" Maggie was almost screaming. "More like you purposely didn't say anything."

"What does it matter?"

A blast of pink energy shot toward them. Both girls dived to the pavement. "It matters," the older girl said, giving her a look.

Yume saw another blast coming toward them and yanked on Maggie's arm, pulling her out of the way. "Look out!"

The blast hit the wall of the building behind them.

"Maggie! Yume!" Cheetor shouted to them. "Get out of here! We'll take care of Grape Face!"

Yume was all too willing to leave but, as she started to move, a horrible feeling held her to the spot.

She wasn't even sure why the thought suddenly slammed into her brain. It wasn't like right then was a good time to even dwell on it. But it came anyway. Something she hadn't even considered.

What if somebody had called the government? This little incident had attracted enough attention thanks to Megatron.

Maggie was staring at her uncertainly. She yanked on her arm to get her moving. "Yume?!"

The other girl was too busy thinking to notice. What if they were on the news right now? Yume noticed a boy taping the whole thing on his camera phone. "No!" she screamed, horrified.

She ran over to the boy and knocked the phone out of his hand. It hit the pavement and broke, the battery skittering across the pavement. The boy stared at his broken phone then gaped at the girl. "What did you do that for?" he demanded.

She ignored him and kicked the phone away. "No videos!" she shouted in his face.

The boy cursed at her then ran after his broken mobile device.

"Yume! Look out!"

The girl looked up just as a blast of pink energy slammed into her chest. She screamed and slammed hard against the wall of a building. Everything went black.

_A/N_

_Well I finally updated. I am so sorry for taking so long. My computer wasn't working and I didn't have much time to work on it thanks to my hour limit at the library and also because of a major case of writers block. _


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

When Yume's body fell limply to the pavement Maggie started screaming. "Yume!" she screeched, running toward the slightly younger girl and kneeling down beside her.

Dinobot, Cheetor, and even Megatron stopped shooting and looked at the fallen girl. The kid with the cell phone ran toward a pay phone further down the street shouting. "I'll call 911!" he shouted though nobody heard him.

Dinobot recovered before anyone else did and charged Megatron, roaring in a mixture of fear and anger. If the Predacon killed her he was going to make him wish he'd never been brought online. Megatron saw him coming and, seeing the killer look on his face, shot at him out of desperation. The ex-Predacon took the blast square in the chest and slammed into the asphalt on his back.

The Predacon took off.

Dinobot got up, tempted to go after him, but held back. Instead he joined Maggie and Cheetor by Yume. The brown haired girl was resting her fingers on the other girl's neck and screaming hysterically. "I can't find a pulse! Oh my God I can't find a pulse!"

_No! _Dinobot glared down at her, unwilling to believe that Yume had died. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. "Move!" he yelled at Maggie, looking like he was about to push her away.

She looked at him and opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. He shoved her aside and knelt over Yume. He cradled her head in his hand and put the other one her neck. He was a robot so he was unable to find a pulse even if he wanted to. "You are not going to die on me, you stupid girl," he growled into her face. "I will not allow it!"

"Dinobot," Cheetor began. "She's not-"

"Shut up!" the raptor roared in his face.

The younger robot stepped back. There was a strange light in Dinobot's optics. Something Cheetor had never seen before. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He fell silent.

Dinobot turned his face back to Yume. He lifted her toward him and rested his head on her chest. His audio receptors were ten times better at picking up sounds than human ears. He dimmed his optics and listened carefully.

He could just make out a very faint heartbeat.

The sound caused a wave of relief to wash over him. She was not dead after all. As he listened it got louder as the outside sounds faded out. Maggie had not found a pulse because she was out of her mind, not because it wasn't there. Yume was fine. She would not die.

His optics flared back on and he looked at Maggie. "She is alive." he said in a raspy voice. "He did not kill her."

The older girl's face loosened up as relief set in. She sighed then burst into tears.

Dinobot frowned. "There is no need for that," he scolded her. "Save your sentiment for when it really matters."

Maggie stared at him, her expression changing to annoyance. "Excuse me," she snapped. "I was crying because I thought she was dead and am happy that she's not."

Cheetor started to say something. "Forge-"

"No! I won't!" the older girl snapped. She glared at Dinobot. "You are nothing but an uncaring jerk! Whatever she sees in you is beyond me."

Dinobot bared his fangs, looking like he wanted to hit her. "I would have you-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off by the sound of police sirens. "Slag, now what?" he growled, turning around just as two police cars pulled up.

"Freeze!" one of the officers shouted, exiting his car. He pointed his gun at the robots. "Put down your weapons."

Dinobot glared at them. "You have got to be jesting."

"I don't think they are," Maggie said, her brown eyes widening.

Dinobot stood, Yume lying limply in his arms. "We do not have time for this," he growled. "We must go after Megatron."

"I don't think that will be possible now," Cheetor said already slowly placing his gun on the ground. "Why don't we just-"

The raptor shot him a sharp look. "You will not dare!" he snapped. Cheetor instantly straightened, his hand gripping the gun firmly. It was best not to tick the raptor off further. "Sorry," he mumbled.

The officer had been watching. "I said drop your weapons!" he commanded.

"Whoa!" Maggie exclaimed, stepping forward with her hands raised. "You've got the wrong guys."

"Ma-am if you don't get out of the way we will be forced to shoot you," the officer's partner replied.

Maggie froze. "An idea might be good right now, guys," she said out of the corner of her mouth.

* * *

Megatron was running away from all of the commotion as quickly as his legs could carry him. He was all-too-aware of several things now. One was that he wasn't alone in this place; some of the Maximals, along with their precious pet, had come to this time and place as well. He was also aware that the fight had caused quite a commotion. His battle with the guards outside that building, along with the fight with Dinobot, had drawn a lot of attention to himself.

He became even more aware of this fact when a sudden noise behind him caught his attention. There was a black-and-white vehicle coming in his direction, making a high-pierced, unending noise. There were red and blue lights atop its roof that flashed repeatedly.

Megatron quickly realized that the vehicle in question was in pursuit of him, especially when it was suddenly joined by another one just like it. Obviously these were the local authorities; the police. And they were now after him.

_Slaggit! Don't these flesh bags have anything better to do?_

One of the police cars came to a stop behind him while the second one pulled ahead of him, parking just in front of him. He was standing beside the sidewalk on the edge of the road, and in this position—even though he could easily make a dash to the left or to the right—he recognized that the humans in the vehicles were attempting to corner him.

"Stay out of my way, you pathetic fleshlings!" Megatron snarled. The weapon in his arm began to glow hotly, and he was prepared to blast both of the cars if it came to that. He honestly didn't want to. It would draw even more attention to himself, which he didn't want or need.

The doors on both of the police vehicles had already burst open. Two humans dressed in uniforms stepped out of each car, thus making a total of four humans, each one armed.

"Stay right where you are," the apparent human ring-leader ordered in a voice full of authority. "Put down your weapons!"

Megatron didn't bother to point out that he'd have to detach his arm in order to do that. He was in a bad mood and did not want to waste time on small talk. _They should have listened,_ the Predacon thought, then slammed one arm down onto the hood of one vehicle, then swung around and blasted two shots of energy into the second car.

The first vehicle now had a large dent in the hood, and the second one promptly burst into flames. He heard exclamations coming from the humans. One of them was talking on a communication device while the others began to open fire. The bullets impacted his armor plating, leaving a few minor scratches and dents and running his paint job in places, but otherwise didn't do much harm.

"Filthy creatures!" Megatron growled angrily. The bullets felt to him like what bee stings might feel to a human, but he also knew that he couldn't stand there taking the metal pellets forever. If they managed to hit something sensitive or vital through the weaker points in his armor, that would mean trouble.

He used his arm to knock two of the humans away, sending them crashing into the pavement several yards away. Then he reached down and picked up the third one, staring into the fleshy creature's eyes. "Insignificant human," he growled. "Did you seriously think you could take me down with peashooters?" He watched as the gun slipped through the now-terrified human's fingers, and promptly stomped on it with his foot, crushing it with a metallic crunch.

The human officer who was talking into his radio stared in horror at what happened. He was still talking rapidly into the device, and Megatron's sensitive audios could make up bits and snatches of the conversation. The puny creature was reporting everything that was happening to others, and no doubt requesting backup.

Megatron snarled, raised his free arm—the one with his weapon attached to it—aimed carefully at that human's back, and fired.

* * *

Dinobot had no intention whatsoever of allowing Cheetor to disarm or to disarm himself. He was a warrior and he was used to being in tight situations, although he wasn't often in situations where there were innocents to protect as well.

The humans who threatened them now were still weak organic beings—at least in comparison to Cybertronians—although he assumed that their weapons could indeed do damage to his body if they all opened fire. He also had to think about Yume and Maggie. But he also knew that the humans would be no match for him in hand-to-hand combat if he began attacking them directly. And his sense of honor wouldn't allow him to attack an inferior foe, even if they currently had them all outnumbered.

"Hey, I got an idea," Cheetor said suddenly, causing Dinobot and Maggie to look at him. The Maximal had a serious expression on his face, yet there was definitely a fair amount of mischievousness there as well.

"What is it?" Dinobot growled, still holding Yume gently but securely in his arms.

"This is our last warning!" one of the humans called out. "Put down the girl or we will open fire."

"They'll never be able to hit the golden rocket!" Cheetor exclaimed. "Beast mode!"

The Maximal received a lot of gasps, pointing, and stunned stares as he transformed into a perfect cheetah. Then, without any hesitation, he sped off through the crowd, going right through the gathered formation of police officers.

A shot fired, but it hit nothing. There was a lot of confusion going about right now, as was Cheetor's intention. Dinobot took advantage of this to begin moving quickly in the opposite direction. Cheetor would be fine; right now his main concern was Yume. No one seemed to be paying quite as much attention to him now, as he moved.

"Hey wait for me!" Maggie half-shouted, hurrying to catch up with him.

* * *

It didn't take Megatron long to realize that he had sustained some damage after all. His beast mode components, which were made of more sensitive materials, had been punctured and torn by the flying bullets. There was no way he would be able to transform anytime soon, although he did not require his beast mode much here anyway. Other than that he seemed fine, except for some slight difficulty with his left knee joint.

He also realized that his map had been damaged beyond recognition during the brief battle with the humans; it was useless to him now.

The Predacon threw it aside. In all honestly it hadn't been helping him all that much anyway.

He had simply fled the scene after he finished dealing with the human police officers, not wanting to draw more attention to himself than necessary. The humans were inferior creatures, but he was alone on this world without any other Predacons to back him up. It was possible they had more powerful weapons somewhere, than simply those metal pellet shooters.

"Hmmm," he mused quietly, stroking his chin with his hand. "If they have more powerful weapons somewhere, perhaps I should try and find one, yess."

With this new objective in mind, he proceeded to move ever more swiftly.

* * *

"Dinobot, where are we going?" Maggie demanded, slightly breathless. Dinobot was taller than she was and had longer legs, so it was difficult to keep up with him. Especially when he was in a hurry.

They were both well away from the scene of commotion now, and thankfully they had managed to lose the few people who had tried to pursue them.

"There," Dinobot said suddenly, pointing. From the abruptness of the motion, Maggie figured he had just made the decision a split-second ago. The girl looked toward where he was pointing; it was an old, abandoned alleyway.

"Why are we going in there?" Maggie asked incredulously, but Dinobot was already moving and she had to follow in order to keep up.

"Because it is dark and out of sight," Dinobot growled in reply.

Once she stepped into the alley after Dinobot, Maggie had to admit to herself that it was an ideal place to hide and stay out of sight. This appeared to be a street that was mostly abandoned, and the dumpsters were conveniently placed so that it was easy to hide here.

She watched as Dinobot lowered himself into a half-crouched, half-seated position and placed Yume onto the ground. She raised her eyebrows as she watched him; somehow he seemed so gruff and grouchy most of the time, yet sometimes there seemed to be something underneath, at least toward Yume.

"I wonder where Cheetor is," Maggie said suddenly, glancing around. In her effort to keep up with Dinobot—mostly so she wouldn't lose sight of him, and to make sure Yume really was okay—she'd forgotten all about the cat.

"He can handle himself," Dinobot replied thoughtfully. His eyes were alert, maintaining a general awareness of his surroundings, yet also focusing on Yume's limp form.

"Is she okay?" Maggie then asked, taking a tentatively step closer.

"I do not know," he replied, not looking up at the older girl. "She is breathing and that is all that matters right now."

"But she could be seriously injured," Maggie protested. "We have to get her to a hospital!"

"No!" he snapped, lifting his head and glaring at her. "No hospitals."

"Then what are we going to do?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "Sit here until she wakes up? For all you know she could be in a coma and can't wake up. If she dies it'll be your fault."

"She is not going to die," the raptor stated, ignoring her accusation. He did not want to think about the girl dying. If she did Dinobot knew that it would indeed be his fault. He should have been protecting her. "Not if I can help it."

"Are you a doctor?" the older girl wanted to know. "Because if you're not you don't know. You're just guessing and your guess could be wrong and then-"

"Shut up!" he roared, tired of her banter. "Just shut up already, you stupid girl!"

"Don't talk to me like that!" Maggie screamed hysterically. "I am not Yume! She might let you get away with that kind of stuff but I'm not going to! No man has ever told me what to do and you're not going to-"

He put a hand over her mouth, cutting off any further protest. "If you have any thinking cells in your processor you will do as I say, unless you want to tell the entire city where we are and just make things worse," he stated, baring his teeth in frustration. "I have a perfectly good reason for wanting you to be quiet and you will do it or you will leave right now and forget all about us."

She grabbed his hand and wrenched it away. "If I leave your hiding place will be compromised," she informed him looking him right in the eyes. "Because I will tell them where you are."

He glared at her. What was it about these human girls attitudes anyway? Was it something in the water? "You would not dare."

"Try me."

That was one thing he wasn't going to do. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a low moaning sound. Startled, he and Maggie looked over at Yume.

* * *

Cheetor was having the time of his life. It had been so long since he'd used his beast mode to just run that he was full of acceleration and was causing a little more commotion than he needed to. The police officers kept firing at him as the crowd that had gathered scattered in all directions to get away from the strange transforming animal.

"Come and get me!" the young Maximal yelled looking over his shoulder at the police officers chasing after him. "You'll never catch up with the fastest Cybertronian on four legs! Roar!" and he shot forward, putting more distance between himself and the peace keepers.

Two police officers continued to fire on him for a minute longer then gave up and got into their car instead. With lights flashing they gave chase, keeping the Maximal in their sights.

Uh oh. It looked like his plan backfired a little. He looked away from the pursuing car and dodged sideways to avoid being hit by an oncoming Corvette. The driver put on the breaks and blared on the horn. Cheetor saw the businessman inside staring at him with eyes as bit as saucers.

_I wonder what he would have found stranger? _the Maximal thought as he headed down the street. _A cheetah in the middle of Time Square of a transformer? _

_A/N_

_Sorry this took me so long to update. I had writer's block. _


End file.
